The Totally NEW Team Corwin Thread

I know, I was there when he bought it. It's also part of the reason Mirys is so far into 25 now.

You expect ME to remember how close I am to levelling!!??!! I'm lucky to remember what day it is!! You do realise I have never had a toon at level 25 before; this is strange new territory for me!! Heights make me dizzy!! lol

Is the plan then to do the Sschindylryn chain and then take level 25? Or run DA once to get all above 25 and take 25 before Sschindylryn. Taking 25 should be quick since you don't get anything particular at that level.

After finishing Sschindylryn we should be eligible for the 3 Demonweb quests and also Epic Gianthold. I know some of you really want to do Epic Gianthold to flag for Fall of Truth to get commendations of heroism. There is an epic saga for Gianthold so that could give us a bonus.

Some of us will have 375 Purple Dragon Knight favor after Sschindylryn and definitely after Demonweb. That means we can upgrade the Caught in the WEB weapons or craft armor with red or green dragon scales and commendations of heroism.

How did you handle it when the Ark got stuck up in the mountains of Ararat, Corwin?

As usual, plan has changed. I'm off work tomorrow. At least until they change their minds again.

I'm not sure how you guys keep playing with new characters. I still have my level 25 Sorc and have tried multiple times to start new characters but I either keep going back to the level 25 Sorc or fail to get past the beginner island. Mind you I haven't logged in for a very long time. I just need time away to forget the game so I can sort of start fresh again. I kind of feel like I've finished the game and don't really want to do it all over again.

For me, changing characters changes the game. Even though we run the same content over and over (although, as designated Keeper of the Big Book, I do try to run and/or skip different packs each life so it's not exactly the same stuff over and over), it's a good bit different playing as a front line melee versus a caster versus a ranged versus a trap monkey versus a healer.

Now, there are certain social aspects that our guild sessions add (JM teaches us new and exciting forms of profanity each week), but the familiarity also breeds a level of teamwork that you just won't get running solo or PUG. Although the game will allow "generalist" builds, they'll usually not be nearly as effective as a build designed to excel at a specific role. With our groups, we coordinate a bit so the basic roles within a party are all covered, which allows each of us to try very focused builds if we choose. Similarly, if one of us tries a build that ends up a hot mess (like a certain warforged barbarian we won't name) the rest of the group tends to pick up the slack and keep the toon functional where must PUGs would just end up throwing you out for being a resource sink.

Peter Stauffenberg said:

Is the plan then to do the Sschindylryn chain and then take level 25? Or run DA once to get all above 25 and take 25 before Sschindylryn. Taking 25 should be quick since you don't get anything particular at that level.

After finishing Sschindylryn we should be eligible for the 3 Demonweb quests and also Epic Gianthold. I know some of you really want to do Epic Gianthold to flag for Fall of Truth to get commendations of heroism. There is an epic saga for Gianthold so that could give us a bonus.

Some of us will have 375 Purple Dragon Knight favor after Sschindylryn and definitely after Demonweb. That means we can upgrade the Caught in the WEB weapons or craft armor with red or green dragon scales and commendations of heroism.

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I've got a little over 200k XP to go before making lvl25. I was not intending for us to take 25 since there's still a good bit of content below lvl24 (which would be 25 on epic hard) we haven'r run yet. That said, it doesn't really matter that much at epic levels. If people want to take 25, I guess there's no real reason not to.

Honestly, for this epic level stuff, I probably shouldn't Keep the Big Book. I don't know squat about the content and I don't know squat about the available loot, and honestly, I don't particularly care. My situation with thunderforged items is fairly similar to Corwin's situation with greensteel except I don't really intend to keep toons even eligible to use thunderforged. Still, I understand my opinions on this are well outside the norm so I'm completely open to suggestions.

99% of my "vision" for what we run on our epics is based on sightseeing. I've never run a lot of this stuff so I just want to see what it's like. That's it. I have no real goals and I have no idea what loot we could get with proper planning. So keep that in mind and please feel free to make demands. A quick "what and why" will go a long way if you epic hounds have genuine goals and I have no issues supporting those goals.

My proposed DA run was actually outside the Friday toons, although people can bring those toons if they so desire. I bring it up for 100% selfish reasons- I can't (or, more accurately, won't put in the extra effort to) solo Shadohe into position for her TR. That's it. I'm using y'all for intelligent henchies. I'm not proud, but there it is.

azraelck said:

I know, I was there when he bought it. It's also part of the reason Mirys is so far into 25 now.

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True, but I couldn't remember who else was there, so thought I'd mention it.

dteowner said:

… Now, there are certain social aspects that our guild sessions add (JM teaches us new and exciting forms of profanity each week), but the familiarity also breeds a level of teamwork that you just won't get running solo or PUG. …

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You forgot to mention Corwin's & my contribution: getting lost on a fairly regular basis, & giving you guys the "opportunity" to reorient when we do

dteowner said:

I've got a little over 200k XP to go before making lvl25. I was not intending for us to take 25 since there's still a good bit of content below lvl24 (which would be 25 on epic hard) we haven'r run yet. That said, it doesn't really matter that much at epic levels. If people want to take 25, I guess there's no real reason not to.

Honestly, for this epic level stuff, I probably shouldn't Keep the Big Book. I don't know squat about the content and I don't know squat about the available loot, and honestly, I don't particularly care. My situation with thunderforged items is fairly similar to Corwin's situation with greensteel except I don't really intend to keep toons even eligible to use thunderforged. Still, I understand my opinions on this are well outside the norm so I'm completely open to suggestions.

99% of my "vision" for what we run on our epics is based on sightseeing. I've never run a lot of this stuff so I just want to see what it's like. That's it. I have no real goals and I have no idea what loot we could get with proper planning. So keep that in mind and please feel free to make demands. A quick "what and why" will go a long way if you epic hounds have genuine goals and I have no issues supporting those goals.

My proposed DA run was actually outside the Friday toons, although people can bring those toons if they so desire. I bring it up for 100% selfish reasons- I can't (or, more accurately, won't put in the extra effort to) solo Shadohe into position for her TR. That's it. I'm using y'all for intelligent henchies. I'm not proud, but there it is.

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Well, I like the "sightseeing approach", & I think you should still generally keep the "big book", otherwise we will spend half of our guild run on Fridays deciding what to do. We can discuss options on the Watch during the week, but we need a "final arbiter" to keep the Friday night discussions to a minimum. Besides, a lot of the epic stuff is rather fun, as long as we don't get completely suicidal & try to run certain of those quests/raids on EE. Some of them we probably can run on EE as long as we keep the groups reasonably balanced, though we'll want to hold off EE on some till we get to higher levels and/or get some ED's under our belts. There are some that, well, … unless you like really, really high repair bills (reference to a certain guy JM & I have occasionally pugged with), I don't recommend it.

As far as taking level 25, I'm not sure there's a reason to push for it, unless someone wants to get the blue/black/white flawless dragonscale armor in Gianthole, which is level 25. In that case we will need to run some FoT's to get some heroic commendations (I think it takes 3 heroic comms for the base armor, but I'd have to check in-game … may need only for upgrades). It's very nice armor (I have the white light armor on my ranger).

But we get most of our "epic goodness" from the EDs, not from taking levels. If everyone hits the wall, then I'd say consider it, but otherwise don't rush. Even at the wall, it's not an issue … the ED's are still filling up. Epic is completely different from heroic in that respect … so set's go "sightsee" the epic content & level up at a comfortable rate.

On epic content we seem to cover the gambit on like and dislike so I do think we need to keep everyone having fun. Why don't we run our lowbies at least every 3rd week even if we are all onboard that week.

Secondly, lets help Dte make a decision prior to Friday…..everyone with a special quest, arch chain, whatever, that you want to see done, post ONE and say why we need it, even if it is just fun. Keep it short and simple. If you don't post before Friday your request is considered null and void. If your request is not used just repost for the next week. Dte should not have to add a volume to the big book based on who asked for what when. Dte can just pick one or two and be done.

Dte does well with the big book and group splits and he should not dread logging in on Fridays. We should all be having fun so lets make it that way.

When Toff is online we can play the lowbies.

On the epics we have reached a level where we can run anything epic and not suffer XP wise. We can't cover all so we need to make some priorities.

I think we all want to complete the Menace of the Underdark quests by doing the Demonweb quests. These are level 23.
Trial By Fury (epic hard)
The Deal and the Demon (epic hard)
Reclaiming the Rift (epic hard)
Caught in the Web (epic normal)

After Demonweb we can run the Epic Gianthold flagging quests to get flagged for the raid Fall of Truth. I can probably lead an epic normal guild run. Every run we make will guarantee a commendation of heroism. Very nice for upgrading items from Eveningstar and Epic Gianthold.

These are the minimum we need. These are level 24:
Return to Madstone crater (epic hard)
Return to Cabal for One (epic hard)
Return to Prison of the planes (epic hard)
Return to Gianthold Tor (epic hard)

Then we will be flagged for Fall of Truth and get the chain reward. If we do the walk-ups on epic we get the saga reward as well

We can also run the epic Vault of night quests (von 1 … von 6) when we fell like. Epic demon queen quests could also be on our menu.

We also have on our list the raids Master Artificer and Lord of Blades (epic normal probably). We missed the Amrath quests to get the raid Tower of Despair. We can still run the 4 flagging quests on elite and get some xp. But we could run that chain on our next group of toons (currently the level 9's).

Other high level chains to run are:
High Road (5 quests at level 24)
Epic Three Barrel Cove (5 quests at level 25)
Epic Necro 4 (5 or 6 quests at level 27+)

We also have some stand alone quests we could finally try as a guild.
Study in Sable (level 26)
Haunted halls of Eveningstar (level 28)
Brothers of the Forge (level 28)

Then finally the 2 level 30 raids:
Fire on Thunderpeak
Temple of the Deathwyrm

So we have plenty of stuff to do until we hit level 28. Highest on my list are Demonweb + epic gianthold. The reason is that doing those chains open up for getting more commendations of heroism. Instead of doing the regular DA run we could do the regular Fall of Truth on epic normal before we start the real quests. Both take the same time.

Actually, next on my chart was E-Desert at level 21/22. Then back to Menace for the Eveningstar3 chain.

@cm- if I'm giving the impression that I'm dreading getting on, that's not the case. As you know, I struggle a bit with playing dictator even though I somehow keep winning every time I try to put the job up for election. I struggle far more with it when I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I've got enough experience on the heroic quests that I feel pretty good putting together a plan that will keep people entertained and motivated. That's simply not there when it comes to epics. No worries. It's self-imposed pressure.

I think you're over-complicating the epics. While I'm not fond of the scaling of hp, saves, and such, most of the mechanics of the quests are the same. So you know pretty much what will be unpopular, such as Wheloon.

The split is a bigger issue, since JM's Sorc is a dps-type build with limited CC, as is your Bard. So the only highly effective CC we have rests on my Druid. This results in whichever group gets me having an advantage.

Our next group TR, assuming we don't just run the current 9's, I will likely TR Mirys again into Human instead of Half-Orc. Maybe Elf for displacement, though the feats will be tight.

Well, the current 9's do have a better mix for CC, but as long as we are limited to 4+2 we're going to face a few problems at times. What we really need are a few more regular players to fill out both splits.

Changes in U23 - Guild Chests & Sentinels Chain Bug

1. Are we installing the new guild vault (aka: Guild chests)? And if so which levels? Level 1 gives you 2 "general" chests (20 slots per chest, 4o total), apparently not "locked", and level 2 adds 2 "officers" chests and makes all chests 40 slots (so total of 160 slots).

2. The sentinels chain is bugged: If you do Spies in the House in the middle of the Sentinels chain, you will get no end reward list for the chain. The notes do not specify heroic or elite, so for now I'm assuming it affects both.

I see absolutely no need for 160 slots. We generally run around 40 items in the current chest and that quantity could easily be reduced by the crafters cleaning it out just a bit more frequently. Pretty much everyone in the guild is an officer, so the option for "locked" chests seems fairly pointless as well. I'm thinking level 1 will be just fine. I'd like to see the two chests organized just a bit. Use one for things like scrolls and named loot (misc stuff of value that might "hang around" a while) and use the other for loot gen stuff that might be of interest.

I can see a use more for keeping things organized, than anything else. One for crafting mats, one for scrolls, etc...

How does one manage to bug out a chain that's been around for over three years?